July 16, 2026
4-Year-Old Shoots And Kills 2-Year-Old Cousin During Family Birthday Vacation
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RSS Feed A family vacation turns horrific. A 4-year-old shot and killed his 2-year-old cousin after the two were left unattended in a car with a loaded gun. The family was on vacation to celebrate the 2-year-old's birthday.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks. It is Thursday, July sixteenth, and an absolute horrific story coming to us out of Florida, a horrific one that should have never happened. A four year old shot and killed his two year old cousin. And you better believe police are certainly expecting to charge somebody in this case. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. I don't want to give the wrong impression at the four year old is being looked at at charges here.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: No, certainly it will be an adult and we don't know exactly who, but we can give you the setup of how this all took place. This happened this week a family vacation to Orlando. And here's the extra sad part about this story. The reason why this family was on vacation in Orlando was to celebrate little the little boy, Brayden Tennyson is his name's third birthday, so he was two years old when he died. The next day, he was turning three and there was a big birthday celebration planned and that's why the whole family was headed to Orlando. And the family had just pulled up to their vacation rental home when this happened, and.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: I say, in Robes, you want to leave space. You cannot imagine what this family and those parents are going through. Now we don't know anything about these folks, but I'm pretty sure Robes, if you go through the effort of planning the type of trip they were on, they love their kids, and this was a family that's on this big vacation. Robes, but this can't happen. It can't just this can not happen. And this wasn't a kid Robes who went digging through and looking for something and found something that was unsecured. Robes, this is a situation where it sounds like it was damn near left in his lap, a gun in a car, two kids.
00:01:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, so here is the setup, and in fact, it's it's so eerie because we literally just came to a vacation home. And yes, it's chaotic. You're trying to figure out where the house is, You're trying to figure out which house is yours, and then what's the code to get in? What are the check in policies? And I say all of this to say, the adults left the vehicle and left the four year old and the two year old inside the car together. While they stepped outside the car, they had not even gotten inside the home. They hadn't even made it up to the front door when a gun shot rang out, and then obviously the horror that they found the four year old had accidentally shot the two year old. But as you pointed out, this gun, if you hear the sheriff give his press conference, was just out there in plain sight. It was unsecured, it wasn't in a holster. And who knows how or why this four year old decided to pick it up and point it as a four year old?
00:02:55
Speaker 1: Probably right, he's a four year old. He doesn't understand how a concept of that weapon is it loaded? Should I how much pressure do I need to put on the trigger? He doesn't know? Well, this is you know. I'm very big on this. I only say accidents don't happen, right. Accidents happen because we overlook something or we're in a hurry. I do it to myself all the time. I'm just like, that didn't have to happen. I'm in a rush. Just slow down. This is one of those I cannot call this an accident. This isn't an accident. Someone did something really really wrong, robes and stupid and dangerous and all these things. But this is one we see off and town. This is not a car accident, robes and as a tragedy and we lose a kid. This is one hundred percent completely unacceptable and should not have happened.
00:03:46
Speaker 2: Yes, it's one hundred percent preventable. And I just I say this because yes, obviously, I think sometimes adults are under the impression that a four year old or a young child wouldn't grab a gun, couldn't grab a gun, doesn't know how to fire the gun, wouldn't actually be able to so those preventative measures weren't in place. And then add the chaos of a bunch of people in a car together pulling up trying to find their vacation home. They've probably been in the car for hours. They drove from Georgia all the way down to Orlando, so you're talking about probably a full day in the car. Everybody's tired, everybody's anxious to get into the house, to get settled, to get ready for a big birthday party the next day. And it's in those moments of distraction, of fatigue, of just chaos, a lot of folks all that is how these things happen. But guns, guns, they kill, and they cannot be left unsecured.
00:04:47
Speaker 1: Did they just possibly forget Is it possible that, Let mean to you what you just said. Folks, assume that's a four year old. They don't know what to do with the gun. I don't think any any adult these days would just leave a gun in and intentionally assuming that a child isn't going to do it. So this is the case, then, Roes. It was just an oversight. They forgot. They were in a hurry, they forgot the gun.
00:05:08
Speaker 2: It could have fallen out of a bag. It could have who knows. But here's what we do know. So the four year old cousin shot and killed the two year old. The gun was the two year old's mother's gun. So it's just you know, you've got obviously you just think about the fact that it was her own gun. Her gun was used to kill her own child.
00:05:32
Speaker 1: How many adults did you said, I didn't get a tote.
00:05:34
Speaker 2: You don't know how many adults, but you know, you can assume that at least you had at least a parent or the parents of the four year old. And then the parent or the parents of the two year old.
00:05:43
Speaker 1: I said that to ask, can they all be held accountable or just the one who owned the gun?
00:05:49
Speaker 2: I mean, the mother of little Braden is the one who I would think most likely would be held responsible because she was the owner of the gun, and being the owner of the gun, it is your responsibility to secure the gun. I can give you the sheriff's statement exactly. He said this, and he was you could tell he was almost he was angry. He was a little bit in disbelief, but he was stern, and he said it was literally talking about the gun. It was literally laying out by itself, so it's easy to grab. And he pulled the trigger. And you can't recall that it's not a video game. You can't hit reset and start over. Once you pull that trigger, that projectile is going somewhere, and this one hit a two year old and killed him. He was referencing the fact that I think maybe adults don't think, yes, as I pointed out that their kids are capable of this, but is your kid playing a video game? Does your kid think that guns are sport or fun? And yes? I thought that that was interesting that the sheriff used the analogy of a video game, because.
00:06:48
Speaker 1: First person shooter those are very popular games where you literally the only thing you see on the screen sometimes is the weapon that you're aiming. You feel first you're shooting. I don't know if this kid, but yes, that has to certainly have an impact. But a four year old who might be you make a good point, ro it's a four year old that might be familiar with a gun and aiming at left and right something on a video screen. Yeah, still doesn't understand the consequences of doing that same thing in real life.
00:07:16
Speaker 2: And that's what the sheriff was explaining. Now, the Tennis and family put out a statement on a GoFundMe page just to give you an idea of what they're going through. And yes, by the way, the sheriff did say that charges are pending. I mean they are fully expecting to charge someone likely likely.
00:07:35
Speaker 1: It's likely Rose who I'm we just saw that. You know, we talked about this with a hot car deaths with parents. What do you do when those accidents are made? When does it cross the line into negligence when someone is dead and you feel so awful for these parents that on top of losing your two year old whose birthday party you were having the next day. You're now going to jail.
00:07:57
Speaker 2: You're planning a funeral instead of a birthday party, and now you are possibly going to prison for it. This was the family statement. There are no words to describe the heartbreak our family is experiencing. What was meant to be a joyful vacation to Orlando to celebrate sweet Braiden's third birthday. Oh crackugh makes me so emotional, has turned into an unimaginable tragedy. Tomorrow should have been filled with birthday candles, laughter, hugs, and happy memories. Instead, those who love Braiden are left mourning the loss of a beautiful little boy whose life was taken far too soon. That is just gutting to read and to imagine.
00:08:38
Speaker 1: I don't it's hard to feel. I'm angry about what happened, but it's hard to be angry at the parent because I know how much they're going I just imagine how much they're going through it. I don't know. This is just awful ros I'm just thinking about those parents and the other thing. I haven't seen a description anywhere in the story that's being told of what hi that four year old's doing. How is that four year old kid?
00:09:02
Speaker 2: You have memories from being four that is going to change the course of his life for every The only ones I.
00:09:09
Speaker 1: Can remember from when I was five and younger are traumatic, exactly, they absolutely are.
00:09:13
Speaker 2: Exactly, that's your first memories are usually trauma. And this boy is never going to forget that. And we yes, he is a victim in all of this as well, for sure, because he should never have been in a position to have access to that gun. And we were wondering, and I look this up. There was a recent study by the National Institutes of Health about just how easy it is for young children to pull a trigger on a gun.
00:09:38
Speaker 1: Folks need to listen to this.
00:09:40
Speaker 2: This is significant in parents who are gun owners need to pay attention. Twenty five percent of three to four year olds, seventy percent of five to six year olds, and ninety percent of seven to eight year olds have a two finger trigger pull strength of at least ten. Let me put this into perspective, more than half sixty two percent of guns have a trigger pull strength of less than five pounds. The other thirty percent of guns have a pull I guess a pull strength of five to ten pounds. So the conclusion is young children. Most young children are strong enough to fire just about every handgun that is now in circulation.
00:10:24
Speaker 1: Folks need to I don't know if any parent ever felt safety in that thinking it's hard to pull that trigger. A kid won't do it. You just said it robes. The majority of kids can pull the trigger on the majority of guns. Correct, That is your rule. That's all you need to know. If there's a gun and there's a kid, they can pull a trigger. Period.
00:10:43
Speaker 2: I have chills from head to toe because I don't think that people realize and recognize that most guns in circulation today are absolutely no problem for your child ages three on up to pull a trigger. And by the way, the sheriff in that press conference brought up this idea of gunlocks. They're five dollars on Amazon. He said they're free at most police departments. Any parent can go to a police department and get a gunlock. It's it almost looks like a bike lock. He held it up. Five bucks on Amazon. It will save a life if you put that on your gun at all times.
00:11:20
Speaker 1: You ever had guns in the house with your kids? Never you when you were a kid.
00:11:24
Speaker 2: That's not true. No guns in my house as I was growing up. My father was not into guns. He was not a gun enthusiast. But I have had it is true. I had a place in the woods and there was a shotgun a rifle in the house. But the the the cartridges, I don't even know what they're called. I don't fire anything. But they were kept locked in a box up so they were never it was never loaded. Never had a loaded gun in a home. I guess I should say that.
00:11:53
Speaker 1: How about you with Sabine. Yeah, two guns in the house in Atlanta, always not loaded. But I remember growing up as a kid. I know where my dad kept his rifle. I know where my mom kept her gun, the revolver she called rusty. I had access to that as a kid. I think about that now. I'm not sorry, parents, I'm not going off on you. Apparently I made it through childhood just fine. But I can still see that rifle propped against my dad's closet behind some clothes. I still know my mom kept her gun and her night standing. You damn right. My sister and I were curious at times. We never played and pointed no, but still we went and looked, and it was kids are just curious, all right, They just are, and you cannot under any circumstances. Being never got close to that. I don't even know she knew I had guns in Atlanta, to be honest, but they were kept up so high. I had to climb and get it myself. It's how I kept them away from her.
00:12:50
Speaker 2: I just but they were never loaded.
00:12:53
Speaker 1: Never keep a loaded gun in the house. I kept one of them, kept the bullets separate from the gun. The other had a clip. So I just, I don't know. I just made me think about that, like what was our childhood like and how do our parents and what did we do and how did we end?
00:13:06
Speaker 2: I did not grow up around them at all, and they've always scared me because of that. I've never wanted anything to do with a gun because of that. But when we come back, we're going to tell you because this story is awful as it is. Just in the past few months, there have been two other horrific stories, and guess what, the parents in both of those cases have been charged. And welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. We are talking about a tragedy that happened just outside of Orlando. Florida. This week, a two year old, the day before his third birthday, was shot and killed accidentally by his four year old cousin. The family members were traveling to Orlando to celebrate little Braden Tennyson's third birthday and now they are planning his funeral. But sadly, this is not this is just the latest, I should say, in a string of similar cases. Just last week, July tenth, the parents of a young child, a small child. They haven't released the name or age of this child, but the parents have been charged with two counts of aggravated child endangerment after their young child shot and killed the two siblings with an unsecured loaded shotgun. This happened in Brookville, Kansas. It happened in the spring. The siblings were five years old and eight years old. And the way it's been described as the child who killed the siblings was the youngest of the three. So you're talking under the age of five shotgun. Small child took a shotgun and killed both of their siblings, and now both of the parents are being held responsible.
00:14:57
Speaker 1: That's about right. That sounds right, ross.
00:15:02
Speaker 2: It's unthinkable. I don't think we believe our children are capable of it. I think that's where some of the mistakes are made. I don't think we believe our children, either accidentally or purposefully, would actually take a gun and aim it at someone they are supposed to love.
00:15:23
Speaker 1: Okay, well, do a Google search today, folks. It just says child shoots and watch how many stories come up? Yeah, kid shoots another kid. Watch how many stories come up? This happens. Maybe we've had a bunch of high profile ones here lately and that's why it feels like it's such an epidemic now. But this is too much.
00:15:42
Speaker 2: It is too much because remember last month, this one our jaws dropped June thirtieth, ten year old boy facing first degree murder charges for shooting and killing his seven month old niece. He shot her in the head. This was just outside of Saint Louis. He is the youngest person ever in that state to be charged with pre meditated murder. But the father of that little baby girl, Kiomi Parker, he too is now being held accountable. It was his firearm that he kept under the mattress, loaded, and the word is that he knew that his nephew knew where that gun was.
00:16:20
Speaker 1: There one where the dad was at the home yes time.
00:16:23
Speaker 2: So the baby's father has been charged with second degree murder and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child. That was horrific, And to think that it was premeditated, it sends chills up and down my spine because you just I just don't think we believe that young children are capable of this. Again, whether it's accidental or deliberate, it's still just we don't want to believe that that's possible.
00:16:48
Speaker 1: I believe after that that case of the ten year old, and that's something the adult is facing second agree in the cat is facing first degree premeditated murder. And we saw the film running the state the teacher, we just saw all this go back.
00:17:02
Speaker 2: Oh, yes, six year old intentionally Yep, he was angry a gun to school.
00:17:08
Speaker 1: Yep.
00:17:08
Speaker 2: He was angry about he didn't like her and she was worried about him. He bragged about having the gun in his backpack. And again because the school officials, I don't think they took it seriously. They're like, yeah, yeah, we'll check it later. And look, the assistant principle was held accountable. She was found not guilty, but prosecutors did try to charge her with some serious offenses for not doing due diligence as a school administrator, to check the child's backpack, to check his jacket, to actually make sure that these rumors that he had brought a gun to school were unfounded. She didn't follow through. He pulls the gun out of his pocket and shoots his teacher in the chest, missing I guess, killing her by what inches And she recovered.
00:17:47
Speaker 1: But again they a six year old. The assistant principal did not get wasn't convicted. Those things with charges were thrown out, but the teacher won in civil court. Yes, so they did find that people behaved poorly and someone didn't do what they were supposed to do. When this teacher got shot, she had ten million dollars. I think, so robes, enough stories are coming up. If you tell me that a four year old has a gun, action has to be taken. Three year old, action has to be taken. You can't assume you cannot robes. We just and you said you didn't grow up around and there's a familiarity. I guess kids have more so about guns and violence, but they still don't possess all the maturity to understand the real world consequences. Kids are now seeing guns and differently playing these games. Okay, there's there's a comfort level almost with a gun. It's fun, it's exciting. You're still five, except you don't understand. Man, these this is this needs to be the last one we ever hear about.
00:18:43
Speaker 2: Would not be wonderful.
00:18:45
Speaker 1: It has to be This cannot happen.
00:18:47
Speaker 2: Gun locks five bucks on Amazon. Don't keep your gun loaded when you have children. Loaded when you have children, I don't care what age they are, there should not be a loaded gun in the home. And if you want to have a loaded gun, it needs to be locked. It needs to be I don't know if you think you don't have a second to load the gun if you're in harm's way. Not quite sure what that circumstance would be. But this is an absolute warning to parents everywhere, and with that everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Roebuck alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk to yourself.
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks. It is Thursday, July sixteenth, and an absolute horrific story coming to us out of Florida, a horrific one that should have never happened. A four year old shot and killed his two year old cousin. And you better believe police are certainly expecting to charge somebody in this case. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. I don't want to give the wrong impression at the four year old is being looked at at charges here.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: No, certainly it will be an adult and we don't know exactly who, but we can give you the setup of how this all took place. This happened this week a family vacation to Orlando. And here's the extra sad part about this story. The reason why this family was on vacation in Orlando was to celebrate little the little boy, Brayden Tennyson is his name's third birthday, so he was two years old when he died. The next day, he was turning three and there was a big birthday celebration planned and that's why the whole family was headed to Orlando. And the family had just pulled up to their vacation rental home when this happened, and.
00:01:16
Speaker 1: I say, in Robes, you want to leave space. You cannot imagine what this family and those parents are going through. Now we don't know anything about these folks, but I'm pretty sure Robes, if you go through the effort of planning the type of trip they were on, they love their kids, and this was a family that's on this big vacation. Robes, but this can't happen. It can't just this can not happen. And this wasn't a kid Robes who went digging through and looking for something and found something that was unsecured. Robes, this is a situation where it sounds like it was damn near left in his lap, a gun in a car, two kids.
00:01:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, so here is the setup, and in fact, it's it's so eerie because we literally just came to a vacation home. And yes, it's chaotic. You're trying to figure out where the house is, You're trying to figure out which house is yours, and then what's the code to get in? What are the check in policies? And I say all of this to say, the adults left the vehicle and left the four year old and the two year old inside the car together. While they stepped outside the car, they had not even gotten inside the home. They hadn't even made it up to the front door when a gun shot rang out, and then obviously the horror that they found the four year old had accidentally shot the two year old. But as you pointed out, this gun, if you hear the sheriff give his press conference, was just out there in plain sight. It was unsecured, it wasn't in a holster. And who knows how or why this four year old decided to pick it up and point it as a four year old?
00:02:55
Speaker 1: Probably right, he's a four year old. He doesn't understand how a concept of that weapon is it loaded? Should I how much pressure do I need to put on the trigger? He doesn't know? Well, this is you know. I'm very big on this. I only say accidents don't happen, right. Accidents happen because we overlook something or we're in a hurry. I do it to myself all the time. I'm just like, that didn't have to happen. I'm in a rush. Just slow down. This is one of those I cannot call this an accident. This isn't an accident. Someone did something really really wrong, robes and stupid and dangerous and all these things. But this is one we see off and town. This is not a car accident, robes and as a tragedy and we lose a kid. This is one hundred percent completely unacceptable and should not have happened.
00:03:46
Speaker 2: Yes, it's one hundred percent preventable. And I just I say this because yes, obviously, I think sometimes adults are under the impression that a four year old or a young child wouldn't grab a gun, couldn't grab a gun, doesn't know how to fire the gun, wouldn't actually be able to so those preventative measures weren't in place. And then add the chaos of a bunch of people in a car together pulling up trying to find their vacation home. They've probably been in the car for hours. They drove from Georgia all the way down to Orlando, so you're talking about probably a full day in the car. Everybody's tired, everybody's anxious to get into the house, to get settled, to get ready for a big birthday party the next day. And it's in those moments of distraction, of fatigue, of just chaos, a lot of folks all that is how these things happen. But guns, guns, they kill, and they cannot be left unsecured.
00:04:47
Speaker 1: Did they just possibly forget Is it possible that, Let mean to you what you just said. Folks, assume that's a four year old. They don't know what to do with the gun. I don't think any any adult these days would just leave a gun in and intentionally assuming that a child isn't going to do it. So this is the case, then, Roes. It was just an oversight. They forgot. They were in a hurry, they forgot the gun.
00:05:08
Speaker 2: It could have fallen out of a bag. It could have who knows. But here's what we do know. So the four year old cousin shot and killed the two year old. The gun was the two year old's mother's gun. So it's just you know, you've got obviously you just think about the fact that it was her own gun. Her gun was used to kill her own child.
00:05:32
Speaker 1: How many adults did you said, I didn't get a tote.
00:05:34
Speaker 2: You don't know how many adults, but you know, you can assume that at least you had at least a parent or the parents of the four year old. And then the parent or the parents of the two year old.
00:05:43
Speaker 1: I said that to ask, can they all be held accountable or just the one who owned the gun?
00:05:49
Speaker 2: I mean, the mother of little Braden is the one who I would think most likely would be held responsible because she was the owner of the gun, and being the owner of the gun, it is your responsibility to secure the gun. I can give you the sheriff's statement exactly. He said this, and he was you could tell he was almost he was angry. He was a little bit in disbelief, but he was stern, and he said it was literally talking about the gun. It was literally laying out by itself, so it's easy to grab. And he pulled the trigger. And you can't recall that it's not a video game. You can't hit reset and start over. Once you pull that trigger, that projectile is going somewhere, and this one hit a two year old and killed him. He was referencing the fact that I think maybe adults don't think, yes, as I pointed out that their kids are capable of this, but is your kid playing a video game? Does your kid think that guns are sport or fun? And yes? I thought that that was interesting that the sheriff used the analogy of a video game, because.
00:06:48
Speaker 1: First person shooter those are very popular games where you literally the only thing you see on the screen sometimes is the weapon that you're aiming. You feel first you're shooting. I don't know if this kid, but yes, that has to certainly have an impact. But a four year old who might be you make a good point, ro it's a four year old that might be familiar with a gun and aiming at left and right something on a video screen. Yeah, still doesn't understand the consequences of doing that same thing in real life.
00:07:16
Speaker 2: And that's what the sheriff was explaining. Now, the Tennis and family put out a statement on a GoFundMe page just to give you an idea of what they're going through. And yes, by the way, the sheriff did say that charges are pending. I mean they are fully expecting to charge someone likely likely.
00:07:35
Speaker 1: It's likely Rose who I'm we just saw that. You know, we talked about this with a hot car deaths with parents. What do you do when those accidents are made? When does it cross the line into negligence when someone is dead and you feel so awful for these parents that on top of losing your two year old whose birthday party you were having the next day. You're now going to jail.
00:07:57
Speaker 2: You're planning a funeral instead of a birthday party, and now you are possibly going to prison for it. This was the family statement. There are no words to describe the heartbreak our family is experiencing. What was meant to be a joyful vacation to Orlando to celebrate sweet Braiden's third birthday. Oh crackugh makes me so emotional, has turned into an unimaginable tragedy. Tomorrow should have been filled with birthday candles, laughter, hugs, and happy memories. Instead, those who love Braiden are left mourning the loss of a beautiful little boy whose life was taken far too soon. That is just gutting to read and to imagine.
00:08:38
Speaker 1: I don't it's hard to feel. I'm angry about what happened, but it's hard to be angry at the parent because I know how much they're going I just imagine how much they're going through it. I don't know. This is just awful ros I'm just thinking about those parents and the other thing. I haven't seen a description anywhere in the story that's being told of what hi that four year old's doing. How is that four year old kid?
00:09:02
Speaker 2: You have memories from being four that is going to change the course of his life for every The only ones I.
00:09:09
Speaker 1: Can remember from when I was five and younger are traumatic, exactly, they absolutely are.
00:09:13
Speaker 2: Exactly, that's your first memories are usually trauma. And this boy is never going to forget that. And we yes, he is a victim in all of this as well, for sure, because he should never have been in a position to have access to that gun. And we were wondering, and I look this up. There was a recent study by the National Institutes of Health about just how easy it is for young children to pull a trigger on a gun.
00:09:38
Speaker 1: Folks need to listen to this.
00:09:40
Speaker 2: This is significant in parents who are gun owners need to pay attention. Twenty five percent of three to four year olds, seventy percent of five to six year olds, and ninety percent of seven to eight year olds have a two finger trigger pull strength of at least ten. Let me put this into perspective, more than half sixty two percent of guns have a trigger pull strength of less than five pounds. The other thirty percent of guns have a pull I guess a pull strength of five to ten pounds. So the conclusion is young children. Most young children are strong enough to fire just about every handgun that is now in circulation.
00:10:24
Speaker 1: Folks need to I don't know if any parent ever felt safety in that thinking it's hard to pull that trigger. A kid won't do it. You just said it robes. The majority of kids can pull the trigger on the majority of guns. Correct, That is your rule. That's all you need to know. If there's a gun and there's a kid, they can pull a trigger. Period.
00:10:43
Speaker 2: I have chills from head to toe because I don't think that people realize and recognize that most guns in circulation today are absolutely no problem for your child ages three on up to pull a trigger. And by the way, the sheriff in that press conference brought up this idea of gunlocks. They're five dollars on Amazon. He said they're free at most police departments. Any parent can go to a police department and get a gunlock. It's it almost looks like a bike lock. He held it up. Five bucks on Amazon. It will save a life if you put that on your gun at all times.
00:11:20
Speaker 1: You ever had guns in the house with your kids? Never you when you were a kid.
00:11:24
Speaker 2: That's not true. No guns in my house as I was growing up. My father was not into guns. He was not a gun enthusiast. But I have had it is true. I had a place in the woods and there was a shotgun a rifle in the house. But the the the cartridges, I don't even know what they're called. I don't fire anything. But they were kept locked in a box up so they were never it was never loaded. Never had a loaded gun in a home. I guess I should say that.
00:11:53
Speaker 1: How about you with Sabine. Yeah, two guns in the house in Atlanta, always not loaded. But I remember growing up as a kid. I know where my dad kept his rifle. I know where my mom kept her gun, the revolver she called rusty. I had access to that as a kid. I think about that now. I'm not sorry, parents, I'm not going off on you. Apparently I made it through childhood just fine. But I can still see that rifle propped against my dad's closet behind some clothes. I still know my mom kept her gun and her night standing. You damn right. My sister and I were curious at times. We never played and pointed no, but still we went and looked, and it was kids are just curious, all right, They just are, and you cannot under any circumstances. Being never got close to that. I don't even know she knew I had guns in Atlanta, to be honest, but they were kept up so high. I had to climb and get it myself. It's how I kept them away from her.
00:12:50
Speaker 2: I just but they were never loaded.
00:12:53
Speaker 1: Never keep a loaded gun in the house. I kept one of them, kept the bullets separate from the gun. The other had a clip. So I just, I don't know. I just made me think about that, like what was our childhood like and how do our parents and what did we do and how did we end?
00:13:06
Speaker 2: I did not grow up around them at all, and they've always scared me because of that. I've never wanted anything to do with a gun because of that. But when we come back, we're going to tell you because this story is awful as it is. Just in the past few months, there have been two other horrific stories, and guess what, the parents in both of those cases have been charged. And welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ. We are talking about a tragedy that happened just outside of Orlando. Florida. This week, a two year old, the day before his third birthday, was shot and killed accidentally by his four year old cousin. The family members were traveling to Orlando to celebrate little Braden Tennyson's third birthday and now they are planning his funeral. But sadly, this is not this is just the latest, I should say, in a string of similar cases. Just last week, July tenth, the parents of a young child, a small child. They haven't released the name or age of this child, but the parents have been charged with two counts of aggravated child endangerment after their young child shot and killed the two siblings with an unsecured loaded shotgun. This happened in Brookville, Kansas. It happened in the spring. The siblings were five years old and eight years old. And the way it's been described as the child who killed the siblings was the youngest of the three. So you're talking under the age of five shotgun. Small child took a shotgun and killed both of their siblings, and now both of the parents are being held responsible.
00:14:57
Speaker 1: That's about right. That sounds right, ross.
00:15:02
Speaker 2: It's unthinkable. I don't think we believe our children are capable of it. I think that's where some of the mistakes are made. I don't think we believe our children, either accidentally or purposefully, would actually take a gun and aim it at someone they are supposed to love.
00:15:23
Speaker 1: Okay, well, do a Google search today, folks. It just says child shoots and watch how many stories come up? Yeah, kid shoots another kid. Watch how many stories come up? This happens. Maybe we've had a bunch of high profile ones here lately and that's why it feels like it's such an epidemic now. But this is too much.
00:15:42
Speaker 2: It is too much because remember last month, this one our jaws dropped June thirtieth, ten year old boy facing first degree murder charges for shooting and killing his seven month old niece. He shot her in the head. This was just outside of Saint Louis. He is the youngest person ever in that state to be charged with pre meditated murder. But the father of that little baby girl, Kiomi Parker, he too is now being held accountable. It was his firearm that he kept under the mattress, loaded, and the word is that he knew that his nephew knew where that gun was.
00:16:20
Speaker 1: There one where the dad was at the home yes time.
00:16:23
Speaker 2: So the baby's father has been charged with second degree murder and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child. That was horrific, And to think that it was premeditated, it sends chills up and down my spine because you just I just don't think we believe that young children are capable of this. Again, whether it's accidental or deliberate, it's still just we don't want to believe that that's possible.
00:16:48
Speaker 1: I believe after that that case of the ten year old, and that's something the adult is facing second agree in the cat is facing first degree premeditated murder. And we saw the film running the state the teacher, we just saw all this go back.
00:17:02
Speaker 2: Oh, yes, six year old intentionally Yep, he was angry a gun to school.
00:17:08
Speaker 1: Yep.
00:17:08
Speaker 2: He was angry about he didn't like her and she was worried about him. He bragged about having the gun in his backpack. And again because the school officials, I don't think they took it seriously. They're like, yeah, yeah, we'll check it later. And look, the assistant principle was held accountable. She was found not guilty, but prosecutors did try to charge her with some serious offenses for not doing due diligence as a school administrator, to check the child's backpack, to check his jacket, to actually make sure that these rumors that he had brought a gun to school were unfounded. She didn't follow through. He pulls the gun out of his pocket and shoots his teacher in the chest, missing I guess, killing her by what inches And she recovered.
00:17:47
Speaker 1: But again they a six year old. The assistant principal did not get wasn't convicted. Those things with charges were thrown out, but the teacher won in civil court. Yes, so they did find that people behaved poorly and someone didn't do what they were supposed to do. When this teacher got shot, she had ten million dollars. I think, so robes, enough stories are coming up. If you tell me that a four year old has a gun, action has to be taken. Three year old, action has to be taken. You can't assume you cannot robes. We just and you said you didn't grow up around and there's a familiarity. I guess kids have more so about guns and violence, but they still don't possess all the maturity to understand the real world consequences. Kids are now seeing guns and differently playing these games. Okay, there's there's a comfort level almost with a gun. It's fun, it's exciting. You're still five, except you don't understand. Man, these this is this needs to be the last one we ever hear about.
00:18:43
Speaker 2: Would not be wonderful.
00:18:45
Speaker 1: It has to be This cannot happen.
00:18:47
Speaker 2: Gun locks five bucks on Amazon. Don't keep your gun loaded when you have children. Loaded when you have children, I don't care what age they are, there should not be a loaded gun in the home. And if you want to have a loaded gun, it needs to be locked. It needs to be I don't know if you think you don't have a second to load the gun if you're in harm's way. Not quite sure what that circumstance would be. But this is an absolute warning to parents everywhere, and with that everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Roebuck alongside TJ. Holmes. We'll talk to yourself.